This Dark Place
by inkdragon13
Summary: Ratchet knows that the war will make life hell for the little sparkling of a dying femme he helped deliver. Instead of making what would have been a smarter decision, he chooses to become its caregiver. He knows challenges will come with the sparkling in his life, but what he doesn't know is that the worst all the hardships he will face will be caused by those closest to him.


**Hiya, viewers! After helping deliver the sparkling of a dying femme, Ratchet chooses to take care of the little one. Due to several requests I received, I decided to continue this storyline. This is a continuation of my story, Torchbearer but there is a recap of the important stuff in here.I do not own Transformers Prime... *sigh*.  
**

**Come on, let's go!**

This Dark Place: Ocean Blue

I gazed at the little chirping sparkling in my arms. Everyone peered over my arms to get a good look at her. All the children were seated on Bulkhead's shoulders, marveling at my little sparkling.

"What do you mean she's blind?" I glared at all of the bots and humans, especially Optimus. Just a few breems ago, I had walked through the Ground Bridge vortex, carrying the little sparkling. A star ship crash landed here on Earth while everyone else was away from the base. I was the only one who could address the distress call. Once I made it over to the vessel, I discovered a femme in her final stages of carrying. I knew for a fact that she would never be able to deliver the sparkling on her own, not with a fatal wound so close to her spark chamber. I held her servo throughout the entire process, flaring my electromagnetic field repeatedly to try and dull her pain. She unleashed to most spark wrenching wails of agony I have ever heard. It hurt me to know that I couldn't numb her pain, knowing my supplies for that matter were all back at the base. The sparkling she was carrying is of a rather large frame type, so that pain was inevitable. Her valve was almost too small to stretch around the sparkling's helm, but with my assistance, she was able pull through, despite to injuries inflicted upon her by the crash landing here on Earth.

I could only marvel at the light green femme's strength. With an injury like that so close to her spark chamber, her strength had to be at an all time low. She was able to complete the birth without me having to perform what the humans call a C Section. I was on the verge of doing it when she asked me specifically not to, preferring the more traditional route. Respecting her wishes, I crouched in front of her, ready to catch the sparkling and clear her intakes once she was done pushing her out. After the delivery, I wrapped the little sparkling up and cleaned her off. I looked over to the femme to see that she was taking her final breaths. Her strength faded at a steady but alarming rate as she officially handed the little sparkling over to me. Her words still echo in my head.

_"She's yours now."_

Before I could say anything more to her, she asked in a dying whisper what my name was. Her voice was so low I could barely understand her, even with my highly tuned audio receptors. She requested my name, but the instant before I could state my name she went on to be with Primus. All I could do was leave the vessel. Thankfully I did leave when I did, because the ship's fuel tanks ignited and exploded, destroying the ship completely.

Now I am back at the base, glaring hard at Optimus. The little sparkling was named after the one who died despite my greatest efforts to keep the little one online. I named her Searchlight. Just a few seconds ago, Optimus told me that Searchlight was blind. How can she possibly be blind? I saw her look me right in the optics!

"She is not blind! Back at the crashed vessel, she looked me right in the optics!" Searchlight still in the crook of my arm, I gestured angrily, taking a challenging step towards the Prime. Bulkhead immediately put a servo on my shoulder, holding me back.

"Ratchet, calm down. You see her eyes? If you wave a hand in front of her, she doesn't see it." Bulkhead demonstrated by doing just that. Her actions afterwards surprised all of us. She squirmed in my arm and a jet black visor snapped down over her glowing optics. The bright light of her optics shone around the visor, giving her a sort of mysterious aura. Now she looked around at everyone, curiosity emitting from her. I gasped at the sight of the visor.

"A thermographic visor..." I mumbled to myself. "...but only blind bots are known to have those..."

"Ratchet, run scans on the sparkling to ensure her systems are functioning properly. Autobots, leave Ratchet to his work." Optimus ordered. With some hesitation, the others, along with the children, left down the halls. The only ones remaining in the main room was Searchlight, Optimus, and I. I took her over to the medbay to run system diagnostics on Searchlight's frame. She whined, retracting her visor as I placed her down on an elevated berth.

She was the most beautiful sparkling I have ever seen.

Her little helm was a dark, storm grey with a black crest and white audio receptor finials, somewhat similar to mine. Her upper arms were pure white while her lower arms were a pitch black. A little white 'X' crossed over her spark chamber, the upper tips of the 'X' reaching over her shoulders and going slightly down her back. Her thighs were silvery and her pedes were the same storm grey as her helm, tipped with black. Right at the base of the crest, where is joined with the rest of helm between her optics, there was an oval shaped piece of her armor that was a very soft ocean blue that seemed to glow.

The little sparkling would grow to be a flyer. Her black wings were held down, much like the way I seen a moth do after in landed on a light. There was a white and grey stripe paralleling on another trailed from the point where the wings joined into her back to the tips of her wings.

The one feature about her that stood out to me the most was her optics. Instead of the usual pale blue I had come to expect from sparkling, they were deep water blue. Despite the darker color, they shone brighter than I would have ever thought possible for one so little. The blue piece on her crest and the blue in her optics were of the same shade. Something else sparkled in her optics and a strange feel washed over me. I had not felt that sensation in centuries. I felt like I was being comforted by a divine wind.

"Shh, shh, it's alright, little one." I comforted. She ceased her whining and looked back up at me, innocence radiating from her form. If only we all had such pure innocence. But war is the bane of innocence. Such a thing has sadly almost become a luxury no one fighting in this war can afford.

"Ratchet, she will not live long unless a sire or carrier bond is formed. " Optimus's gaze softened as he looked upon Searchlight.

"I know, Optimus. I plan on fulfilling that need once I am finished running these diagnostics." A panel opened on my wrist and I scanned her for any harmful contaminants in her energon stream.

"...Do you feel you can handle such a responsibility?"

"Are you saying I'm not capable of caring for a sparkling?" I turned to give my leader a hard look. Unfazed by the threat hidden behind the look I gave him, Optimus continued.

"I never said you were not capable of raising a sparkling. We are at war, and your duties as a medic are difficult and taxing enough. The additional care of a sparkling-"

"Optimus, you of all people should know that I can take care of a sparkling just fine." I sharply cut him off. He was one of the first to notice that something was not right when I refused to leave my berthroom the solar cycle the sparkling died, so many vorns ago. He knows I did everything and more to aid the little sparkling so long ago.

"..." He averted his gaze and looked at Searchlight, who was fixated on chewing on her tiny digits. I could tell he wanted to say something else, but I turned back to her, gently pulling her fingers out of her mouth. Without a word, Optimus turned and silently left the room. Once I had completed the scans, I picked up the little sparkling and headed off to my berthroom. I have to form a bond with her soon or the effects will begin to show by the swift deterioration of her health.

Once I was inside of my dimly lit berthroom, I sat down on the edge of my berth, still holding Searchlight close to my spark. She had become increasingly noisy, complaining about something. I didn't have to stretch my imagination very far to realize what it was she wanted. The energon we had was far too strong for her systems and we lacked a means of properly diluting it for her. Plus, I had no energon waiting for her in my feeding tanks. A carrier bond needed to be formed for the feeding protocols to be activated. The only problem was that I couldn't choose which type of bond I was to have with her. In this case, since her carrier is deceased, the sparkling got to choose which kind of bond I could have.

Gently pulling her away from my frame, I parted my chestplates to reveal my spark. A rush of warmth went over Searchlight, causing her to look towards my spark. She couldn't see the visible light but I'm sure she could see the difference in the heat of my spark and the heat of the room around her. She moved her tiny black servo and reached towards my spark. My spark moved to make contact with her. As soon as it brushed her hand, a pleasant sensation ran through my entire frame.

Suddenly I felt something that was not my own spark within me. I offlined my optics and concentrated on the sensation. Getting the feeling that is meant no harm, I opened myself to it. The feeling grew more enjoyable as it sank further into me. Then I realized that it wasn't an 'it'. Though my optics were offlined, I saw a familiar ocean blue light coming towards me. I moved towards it as well, though I did not walk there. I myself was a lighter blue, like my optics. I was significantly larger than the darker blue light, but the dark blue light did not shy away from me. It drifted towards me, touching me. I expanded my light and wrapped around the darker blue glow protectively.

I onlined my optics. The bond was complete. Searchlight chose the carrier bond for me. I could already feel my systems filtering my energon and pumping the liquid into my feeding tanks. Searchlight looked up at me, large dark blue optics gleaming with joy. I could feel her in my mind and sent a wave of warm comfort down the bond. She responded with a wave of happiness. I smiled down at the sparkling I held close to my still exposed spark.

Searchlight was now officially my sparkling.

She tapped lightly on my chestplates after I covered my spark. knowing what she wanted, I extended a feeding line on the left side of my chassis. My feeding tanks are already full, much to my surprise. I took the end of the tube and guided it to Searchlight's lips. She instantly took hold and sucked greedily. In the crook of my arm she pressed her shiny faceplates into my chest as she drank the energon coming from the tube attached to my feeding tanks. I looked down at her, feeling her bite down harder on the feeding cable.

Though I know I will thoroughly enjoy being around and raising my little Searchlight, I am well aware of the fact that I will face many challenges. At that thought, a cold shiver went through me. I know I just stepped into another world of hardships. I looked down at the sparkling, that had just fallen peacefully into recharge. I retracted the feeding tube and lay down on my berth, rolling onto my side so Searchlight could curl up right next to my chassis. I listened to her steadied intakes as I watched her sleep, feeling myself fall into recharge.

As a new carrier, what troubles await ahead of me?

**So, what's your opinion on this chapter? I redid this one, so if it looks familiar, please don't kill me. What do you think of Searchlight? Got any suggestions for me to use later on?**

**I love the entire concept of sparklings, so I kept on with this idea. If you want more detail about the events that lead up to this story, go ahead and read my story, Torchbearer. See you all in the next chapter!**

**Peace out.  
**


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